Dolphins still looking at the tackle market

Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland still has a void at offensive tackle following the draft, and he didn't waste any time in getting a look at all of his remaining options.

The Dolphins worked out all four of the top remaining veteran offensive tackles still on the free-agent market this week - Bryant McKinnie, Eric Winston, Tyson Clabo and Winston Justice. Mckinnie re-signed with the Ravens Thursday. The Dolphins have a few developmental tackles on the roster - Will Yeatman, Andrew McDonald and Andrew Miller - but they likely want to sign a veteran for one or two years in their quest to erase their four-year playoff drought.

McKinnie would have played left tackle if he had signed, while the other three would likely play right tackle, with second-year pro Jonathan Martin taking over at the left side. The team believes Martin is more comfortable at left tackle, where he started 37 games in college.

The Dolphins have met with Winston several times this offseason but have yet to make a move. Clabo, a salary-cap casualty of the Falcons, started 80 straight games in Atlanta and was rated as the fifth-best right tackle in the NFL last year by Pro Football Focus.

But while the Dolphins need a tackle, it's possible they don't sign anyone yet and instead wait to see if any other veterans become available. With the draft and free agency causing a few logjams on other teams, the Dolphins believe there might be some offensive tackle movement near the start of training camp.

The Dolphins might be able to pry Eugene Monroe away from the Jaguars, who haven't talked long-term contract with their left tackle and just drafted Luke Joeckel No. 2 overall. The Dolphins might also be able to convince the Rams to part ways with Rodger Saffold, who wasn't too happy that the Rams signed Jake Long at left tackle and moved Saffold to right tackle.

"We don't line up and play until mid-July," Ireland said after the draft. "So we're going to continue to tweak the roster where we can, and we'll see how things play out here in the next couple of months."

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NFL Team Report - Miami Dolphins - NOTES, QUOTES

--The Dolphins entered the NFL Draft thinking offense, with wide receiver Tavon Austin and tight end Tyler Eifert in mind with the No. 12 pick. They also were about to take wide receiver Josh Boyce in the fourth round before the Patriots nabbed him two spots earlier. Instead, the Dolphins focused heavily on defense in the draft, trading up to No. 3 to take Dion Jordan and using four of their first five picks overall on defensive players: cornerback Jamar Taylor (second round), cornerback Will Davis (third round) and linebacker Jelani Jenkins (fourth round). "It just so happened to kind of fall that way," general manager Jeff Ireland said. "Our plan going into every draft is draft good football players, and that's what we did."

--The Dolphins are using two players to replace departed tight end Anthony Fasano this year - Dustin Keller as an upgrade as a pass-catcher, and rookie Dion Sims to replace Fasano's excellent blocking skills. Sims, a fourth-round pick out of Michigan State, only had 36 catches for 475 yards and two touchdowns last year, but his dedication to losing weight this offseason impressed the Dolphins. Sims played last year at 6-5 and 285 pounds, but is now down to 262 and should enter training camp as the favorite to be the No. 2 tight end, ahead of Charles Clay and Michael Egnew. "That's what really intrigued us about him is he lost some weight, showed us some discipline in that regard and moved around very well in the spring," Ireland said. Sims is also the only receiver taller than 6-2 other than Egnew.

--The Dolphins traded one of the few remaining pieces from their last division championship team in 2008 when they traded wide receiver Davone Bess to Cleveland during the second day of the draft. Bess had 321 catches for 3,447 yards in five seasons with Miami, and became a fan favorite after joining the team in 2008 as an undrafted rookie. But he also only scored 12 touchdowns in five seasons, and had friction with the new coaching staff at the end of the season over the severity of his back injury, which kept him out of the final three games. The Dolphins signed Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson to be their top three receivers, and saved $2.7 million of salary-cap space by trading Bess.

"Obviously we did some things in the offseason that made us feel a lot better about the position," Ireland said. "We feel very good about the group we have with Mike (Wallace) and Brandon (Gibson) and Brian (Hartline) and Rishard (Matthews), so it felt like we had a little bit of value there that we could move on from."